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Transylvania: Sighisoara

With a quick glance, you might think that Sighisoara is just like other medieval cities in Transylvania which consists of citadel, tower, fortified church… mm… Sighisoara has all of them, but there are some special things that make Sighisoara become unique, indeed!

1. Sighisoara is colorful, incredibly colorful. Orange/green/blue colors of the houses, pink color of flowers, yellow color of the autumn leaves. You will feel as if you are brightened up when walking around the city on the winding cobbled-stone alleys.

2. Sighisoara has a stunning view because it was developed on the plateau. The historic center of Sighisoara is recognized as a UNESCO Heritage Site [i forget in what year]. It’s fantastic to walk up and down on the paved old streets passing through the history of sighisoara. It’s said that the architecture is not different from 500 years ago.

The landmark of Sighisoara citadel is Clock Tower built in 14th century. It was the main gate of the citadel.

A night shot of Clock Tower:

We can reach to the top of the tower after paying the entrance fee. There’s a small museum of artifacts/tools of medieval time inside the tower. From the top of the tower, we can look all over the city from 4 sides. Here is one example of panoramic view of the city from the tower.

An interesting thing in the top of the Clock Tower is the signs on small brass plaques to show you how far from the tower is to different cities around the world.

Another highlight not far from Clock Tower is Church on the Hill [Bergkirche] [need to hill up a little bit]

Or Covered Stairs – a covered wooden stairway or schoolboy stairway built in 17th century to facilitate a way for kids to school on the hill or churchgoers on the hill during winter. We had a good moment of listening to acoustic guitar from the old lady. She has played so well and we were likely absorbed in her music.

3. It’s believed that Sighisoara was the birthplace of Dracula? His name was Vlad Tepes. His house was close to Clock Tower.

4. Sighisoara has a lot of towers. From what we’ve ever read, the city was founded by Saxon merchants and craftsmen. To protect a city from enemy raids, each guild of craftsmen constructed each tower and played as a defender. So from tower’s name, we can know who built it. Butcher’s Tower, Ropemaker’s Tower, Blacksmith’s tower…

Here’s the photo of picturesque Shoemaker’s tower:

We reached Sighisoara from Sibiu by a sluggish train, and stayed in the very lovely Christina and Pavel pension inside the old city.

Sighisoara in autumn is really amazing. Heard that it has the biggest medieval festival in the world in Summer. I think it’s incredible to visit too.